The inventor

ABOUT - Enrico Steger

Enrico Steger (* 20.05.1959) is the inventor of the manual milling machine for the production of zirconium dental prostheses.
After five years of High School at the Institute for Dental Technicians in Bolzano/South Tyrol and various jobs as a dental technician throughout Europe, in 1981 he set up his own dental laboratory.

Working with various industrial companies, he developed a range of dental products including dental wax, drills and ceramics, as well as carrying out research into colour and form for dental prostheses.

In 1986, Quintessenz published his book “Die anatomische Kaufläche” (The Anatomy of the Occlusal Surface). So he became one of the world’s leading experts and trendsetters in the dental sector, publishing papers in specialist journals and becoming guest speaker in conferences in Korea, Iceland, Norway, Spain, South Africa, USA and Mexico.

In 2003 Steger had a revolutionary idea: to develop a manual milling system that could be easily affordable for any dental technician. So the manual zirconium milling machine based on the functioning principle of the pantograph was born.

That year, he made a prototype of the machine and, to ensure the perfect adaptability of crowns and bridges, he fine-tuned a complete system including blocks of in-house produced zirconium, milling machines and sintering kilns.

In 2 years, Steger optimized the zirconium milling machine he called the “Zirkograph” and the company he founded in South Tyrol in 2003 - Zirkonzahn Srl – launched the product.

The company, which today employs 250 people, grew to become a leader in the dental sector, exporting to over 100 countries.

Steger holds 12 international patents in Europe, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Korea and the USA. The company also owns numerous utility models in Germany and Austria, where it has applied for patents for three models: the mechanical milling device of the Zirkograph, the system for removing the powder produced by milling and the fixing and rotation mechanism included in the invention.